Notably, there are already many anthropomorphic phantoms available on the market. One of which is an anthropomorphic torso phantom by Data Spectrum Corporation, as shown in FIG. 6. In FIG. 6, although the anthropomorphic torso phantom is configured with a heart, a breast, a portion of lung, a liver and a spinal cord, only the heart, breast, liver and torso can be filled by a solution of contrast agent or medicine. Moreover, it is disadvantage in that except for a specific position on the breast, there is no space available in all the other organs that can be used for allowing any spherical tumor/lesion phantom to be arranged thereat. Thus, the aforesaid prior-art anthropomorphic torso phantom is not useful in medical imaging researches for tumors and lesions.
Another such anthropomorphic phantom is the thorax phantom by Fluke Biomedical Corporation that is also configured with a heart, a lung, a liver and a breast, as shown in FIG. 7. Although it is designed for allowing all the organs including the heart, lung, liver and breast to be filled by solutions of contrast agent or medicine, only the heart and the breast are formed with specific spaces to be used for receiving spherical tumor/lesion phantoms while all the other organs are not configured with such space. Thus, the aforesaid prior-art thorax phantom is also not useful in medical imaging researches for tumors and lesions.
On the other hand, different from the aforesaid humanoid phantoms, there are some other phantoms on the market that each is designed to simulate a specific internal organ, such as liver. One such phantom is the Williams liver phantom by Bright Technologies Corporation, as shown in FIG. 8. In FIG. 8, the Williams liver phantom is configured with five hollow cylinders and five solid cylinders, whereas the hollow cylinders are used for allowing solutions of contrast agents or medicines to fill therein and the solid cylinders are used for simulating lesions. It is noted that the smallest cylinder is about 3 mm in diameter. In addition to the sizes as well as the positions of those cylinders are fixed and can not be changed, the appearance of the cylinder too simple to mimic a real lesion.
Moreover, another internal organ phantom is the multicontrast/resolution phantom by Fluke Biomedical Corporation, as shown in FIG. 9. The multicontrast/resolution phantom, being a liver-shaped hollow phantom that are designed to be filled by solutions of contrast agents or medicines, is configured with a plurality of acrylic lesion phantoms of different sizes. Although the aforesaid prior-art multicontrast/resolution phantom can be used for generating lesion images of different contrasts and resolutions, it is still not a complete 3D liver and also is disadvantageous in that the sizes as well as the positions of those acrylic lesion phantoms are fixed and can not be changed.
In addition, for the phantoms disclosed in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, they are not formed with any space to be used for allowing any spherical tumor/lesion phantom to be arranged thereat. Not to mention that the phantom of FIG. 6 is not shaped like a complete liver.
Therefore, it is in need of an anthropomorphic phantom for medical imaging systems capable of overcoming the aforesaid shortcomings